Stretching is Serious: 4 Reasons To Remember To Stretch

Tuesday February 14, 2012

It’s easy to ignore the before or after workout stretching regime. When you want to fit your workout into your busy day, usually the part of your routine that gets scratched is the “stretching”. It’s important to remember all the reasons why your yoga teacher or fitness trainer or healthy friends are always pushing “stretching” as integral to your exercise structure. Here are 4 reasons to remember to fit stretching into your everyday existence, for your mind and your body.

1 – Improves Balance

Naturally, using your muscles on a daily basis can cause them to become tight, especially when you commute and carry a backpack or purse with you. Getting some stretching in each day can help alleviate this muscle tightness and bring your body back to feeling more balanced. This is why yoga is helpful as being part of your exercise routine.

It’s very important to maintain a mobile thoracic spine. If the middle part of your back becomes tight, it can create many problems up and down into other parts of your body. By doing simple rotational stretches each day, you can keep this area healthy and therefore, reduce the possibility that your neck, shoulders, and chest get tighter and less mobile.

4 – Good For Your Glutes

Many of us end up sitting in front of a computer for most or at least a portion of our workdays. This is tough on your body, and especially your glutes. When you sit too much, the nerves that activate your glutes can shut down quickly. When your glutes reach atrophy, it makes other muscles in your body become overstressed to compensate, leading to knee or lower back pain. The best way to keep your glutes active is through stretching – move your glutes and hip flexors regularly to reduce potential future atrophy and pain.